Epidemic, administrative crisis loom as SSANU strike continues

The ongoing industrial action by members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities is crippling activities in many of the nation’s public universities, CHARLES ABAH writes

With the resumption of lectures on Monday (yesterday) at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, not many students were eager to return to the institution immediately.

But it was not because they were not interested in completing their studies in record time.

Before the students went on the forced vacation early last December, they had protested against the poor state of facilities on campus, an action that prompted the closure of the institution. That was even when members of the SSANU were not on strike.

They had complained of lack of water and epileptic supply of electricity, among other inadequacies on campus.

“Now that the SSANU strike is on, what is going to be our fate? Have the authorities made enough preparation to address some of the major challenges that led to our protest? We acknowledge that the junior workers are on duty, but how effective are they without being closely monitored by their senior colleagues,” a concerned student leader, who craved anonymity, told our correspondent on Monday.

Beyond OAU, the situation at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, is no better either. Students of the 66-year-old institution, who resumed after the Christmas and the New Year celebrations, are also not telling an interesting tale. For instance, the operation of the medical centre of the institution, they claim, is not bubbling with activities nowadays as a result of the ongoing strike.

Apart from the fact that the junior members of staff go to work, their senior colleagues, who maintain skeletal services at the centre, operate from their homes. In fact, according to one of the students, the Nursing section is literally on vacation except on occasions where there are emergencies.

“Is this what we are going to be experiencing until this strike ends? Given the rising incidence of Lassa fever in the country, do you think it is safe for us to be staying on campus with our hostels in filthy conditions? It is true that a contracting firm is handling the job of cleaning the hostels, but with the students on campus, the environment will continue to be filthy,” Okey Nwachukwu said.

A former SSANU Chairman at the University of Lagos, Prince, Joseph Adefolalu, agreed with the concerned students, noting that with the medical centres of the universities in the country operating on skeletal services, sick students were at the mercy of worsening health conditions.

He said, “Visit the health centres of the different universities and see what we are talking about. Our members who are nurses are on strike, even now that the Lassa epidemic is in the air. Go to the libraries and the bursary department. Our members are equally not on duty. Our members also supervise the engineering and works departments, so the provision of electricity is not fully guaranteed. For fresh students that have yet to complete their registration, there is no way that they will conclude their registration process.

Like UNN and OAU, so it is at UNILAG and in many of the universities across the country. Besides the newly admitted students, who are currently facing frustration, the ongoing industrial action has stifled other developments and initiatives on many campuses.

Adefolalu, who advised the Federal Government to listen to their request, added that members of the union ensured the smooth running of the institutions.

He explained, “Apart from being the first point of contact for the students, we are instrumental in the running of the welfare of all other stakeholders. We ensure the provision of security, among many other activities on campuses.”

For a 300-level student in the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ibadan, Babalola Hamed, the strike has crippled administrative work in the school and the students are at the receiving end. He said although the school was on break, students who wanted their files processed were not making headway.

He said, “With the strike, we cannot complete our registration and other activities that involve administrative work. When we go to the administration department, the few junior workers ask us to come back because the senior officers that will attend to us are on strike. It is affecting our academic work. It is better to use this break period to perfect our papers before we resume.”

The UI Student Union President, Olateju Oladimeji, also admitted that the strike was affecting administrative activity in the school.

He said, “We cannot pay our fees because no one is attending to us. We appeal to the government to resolve the issue so that these workers can return to work. We cannot go to the classroom if we do not have payment receipts.”

Appraising the situation, the SSANU President, Mr. Samson Ugwuoke, urged stakeholders, particularly students, to exercise patience. He noted that the union members were not deliberately punishing them.

According to him, the union is only responding to the Federal Government’s failure to honour an agreement signed seven years ago.

He said, “Yes, I understand that there is fear of health hazards and other administrative lapses on campuses, but we are not talking of comfort when the Federal Government has suddenly cut the source of livelihood of many of our colleagues. We are not talking of the normalcy on campuses for now. We can only give our best to the students and other stakeholders when we are also comfortable.

“We are talking about the unceremonious dismissal of workers by the authorities. The 2009 agreement remains sacrosanct. So, we want the government to reverse the illegality. As we protest and demand the recall of our sacked members, we learnt that they are planning to sack more workers.”

Members of the union had, on December 24, embarked on a strike to protest against the sacking of over 2,000 of their colleagues by the Federal Government. They alleged that the action of the government to retrench the workers was contrary to the agreement the union signed with the Federal Government in 2009.

The SSANU President, while calling for the strike, urged the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, to order the immediate withdrawal of all letters from the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, National Universities Commission and the Federal Ministry of Education, directing vice-chancellors to remove the personnel of the University Staff Primary Schools from their pay rolls.

Meanwhile, a source told our correspondent on Monday that the leadership of the union would have an emergency NEC meeting in Abuja on Tuesday to appraise their last discussions with the minister of education.

Adamu, it was gathered, had directed the union to suspend the strike with a promise to look into the crisis urgently.

The UNILAG-SSANU Chairman, Mr. Adetomiwa Adekola confirmed this in an interview with our correspondent. According to him, the different branch leaders are converging on Abuja on Tuesday (tomorrow) for a NEC meeting.

He said, “There is nothing that we can do now. We cannot call off the strike until after our meeting in Abuja. If the NEC agrees that we should honour the request of the minister, we shall take that resolution at the meeting. In other words, all administrative and sundry services on campuses will continue to be put on hold until we suspension the action.”